Reversing the Aging of the Skilled Trades Workers

For the past several decades there has been a prevalence of promoting the need for everyone to obtain at least a bachelor\u27s degree to be able to have a successful career. This had led to a lack of interest of the younger generations in entering the skilled trades as a career. The result of this is that the average age of workers in the trades keeps increasing and as the boomer generation has retired there are not enough capable replacements entering the workforce. Having enough workers in the skilled trades is imperative to keeping the country moving forward by building the new and maintaining the old. There needs to be a concentrated effort to educate and encourage the younger generations of the viability of the trades as a career. Companies will need to adapt the practices that they currently use in recruitment to reach the age demographic that is needed to combat this issue. The need to understand what this generation wants in a career is imperative to developing the processes to recruit them

Center of Pressure Position and Velocity Control During Single Leg Standing on Sloped Surfaces

Postural control during upright standing aims to maintain the center of mass within a base of support and prevent disturbances that may lead to a fall. Typically, the center of pressure (COP) position trajectory is used to index the degree of postural sway during various balance tests. However, recent literature has shown that COP velocity may be a more sensitive measure to detect changes in postural control over various internal and external perturbations. PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the influence of sloped surfaces on single leg standing in young, healthy individuals. A secondary aim was to determine whether there was consistency between the results from the COP position and COP velocity when analyzing the medial-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) trajectories. METHODS: Sixteen participants (11 females, 5 males) performed 30-second, single leg balance tests on flat and sloped surfaces. Participants were instructed to stand as still as possible with arms at their sides and focus on a visual target located at eye level two meters in front of them. A total of 14 randomized tasks were completed with inclined and declined slopes of 10, 15, and 20 degrees. A force plate (AMTI) was used to obtain force and moment data in the x, y, and z directions, which was used to compute the COP position. Then, the COP velocity was calculated as the derivative of COP position. For both COP position and velocity, the following variables were used: AP and ML standard deviations (SDAP; SDML), length, and area. RESULTS: An analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant main effect for condition for the COP position measure of length, F (6, 209) = 3.32, p = 0.004. Post-hoc analyses revealed increased COP position length as slope deviated from the flat (0°) condition. A significant main effect for condition was found for the COP velocity measures of SDML, F (6, 209) = 3.18, p = 0.005, and SDAP, F (6, 209) = 2.70, p = 0.015. Post-hoc analyses revealed increased COP velocity SDML and SDAP values as slope deviated from the flat (0°) condition. Additionally, a significant main effect for condition was found for the COP velocity measure length, F (6, 209) = 5.19, p = 0.000. Again, post-hoc analyses revealed increased COP velocity length as slope deviated from the flat (0°) condition. Finally, the results also showed a significant main effect for condition for the COP velocity measure area, F (6, 209) = 3.04, p = 0.007. Post-hoc analyses revealed increased COP velocity area as slope deviated from the flat (0°) condition. In general, a “U” shaped curve was found in post-hoc analyses, which demonstrated that as slope increased in both the inclined and declined directions, the amount of sway increased, as measured by both COP position and COP velocity. However, there was a larger increase in declined conditions than inclined conditions. CONCLUSION: In this study, specific control strategies were observed across sloped conditions. However, the findings suggest that there is no difference between legs in the stabilization control of upright posture. Additionally, the present results showed COP velocity parameters were more sensitive to differences between conditions than COP position parameters. This further corroborates the use of COP velocity as a more useful tool than COP position in identifying postural control system differences during various inclined and declined sloped conditions

THE EFFECT OF JUMP DIRECTION AND PLANNING ON DROP LANDING MECHANICS IN FEMALE ATHLETES

The purpose of this study was to assess differences in landing and jump kinematics during a drop landing task in female athletes. Participants (n=18) with previous athletic experience (i.e., jumping sports) volunteered for the study and performed planned and unplanned jumps in three different directions (left, straight, right). Kinematic and kinetic data were analyzed from initial ground contact and toe off. Preferential weight distribution toward the right side was found during the bilateral drop landing task which was supported by larger peak ground reaction forces (GRFPeak)on the right limb. Jump direction significantly altered total plate time (p\u3c0.05), GRFPeak (p\u3c0.001), mean GRF symmetry (p\u3c 0.01), and knee path distance (p\u3c0.05). Based on these findings, off-center jumps, but not anticipation, altered landing and jumping kinematics in a manner that may relate to knee injury risk

Bridging flavour violation and leptogenesis in SU(3) family models

We reconsider basic, in the sense of minimal field content, Pati-Salam x SU(3) family models which make use of the Type I see-saw mechanism to reproduce the observed mixing and mass spectrum in the neutrino sector. The goal of this is to achieve the observed baryon asymmetry through the thermal decay of the lightest right-handed neutrino and at the same time to be consistent with the expected experimental lepton flavour violation sensitivity. This kind of models have been previously considered but it was not possible to achieve a compatibility among all of the ingredients mentioned above. We describe then how different SU(3) messengers, the heavy fields that decouple and produce the right form of the Yukawa couplings together with the scalars breaking the SU(3) symmetry, can lead to different Yukawa couplings. This in turn implies different consequences for flavour violation couplings and conditions for realizing the right amount of baryon asymmetry through the decay of the lightest right-handed neutrino. Also a highlight of the present work is a new fit of the Yukawa textures traditionally embedded in SU(3) family models.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, Some typos correcte

Factors affecting consistency and accuracy in identifying modern macroperforate planktonic foraminifera

Planktonic foraminifera are widely used in biostratigraphic, palaeoceanographic and evolutionary studies, but the strength of many study conclusions could be weakened if taxonomic identifications are not reproducible by different workers. In this study, to assess the relative importance of a range of possible reasons for among-worker disagreement in identification, 100 specimens of 26 species of macroperforate planktonic foraminifera were selected from a core-top site in the subtropical Pacific Ocean. Twenty-three scientists at different career stages – including some with only a few days experience of planktonic foraminifera – were asked to identify each specimen to species level, and to indicate their confidence in each identification. The participants were provided with a species list and had access to additional reference materials. We use generalised linear mixed-effects models to test the relevance of three sets of factors in identification accuracy: participant-level characteristics (including experience), species-level characteristics (including a participant’s knowledge of the species) and specimen-level characteristics (size, confidence in identification). The 19 less experienced scientists achieve a median accuracy of 57 %, which rises to 75 % for specimens they are confident in. For the 4 most experienced participants, overall accuracy is 79 %, rising to 93 % when they are confident. To obtain maximum comparability and ease of analysis, everyone used a standard microscope with only 35× magnification, and each specimen was studied in isolation. Consequently, these data provide a lower limit for an estimate of consistency. Importantly, participants could largely predict whether their identifications were correct or incorrect: their own assessments of specimen-level confidence and of their previous knowledge of species concepts were the strongest predictors of accuracy

Variation in Suicide Risk among Subgroups of Sexual and Gender Minority College Students

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163395/2/sltb12637_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163395/1/sltb12637.pd

Radiographic abnormalities, bladder interventions, and bladder surgery in the first decade of life in children with spina bifida

Background Spina bifida (SB) patients are at increased risk for hydronephrosis, bladder storage and emptying problems, and renal failure that may require multiple bladder surgeries. Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients born with SB 2005–2009, presenting to our institution within 1 year of birth. Outcomes at 8–11 years old included final renal/bladder ultrasound (RBUS) results, clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) use, anticholinergic use, surgical interventions, and final renal function. We excluded those without follow-up past age 8 and/or no RBUS or fluoroscopic urodynamic images (FUI) within the first year of life. Imaging was independently reviewed by four pediatric urologists blinded to radiologists’ interpretation and initial findings compared with final outcomes. Results Of 98 children, 62 met inclusion criteria (48% male, 76% shunted). Median age at last follow-up was 9.6 years. Upon initial imaging, 74% had hydronephrosis (≥ SFU grade 1), decreasing to 5% at 10 years (p < 0.0001). Initially, 9% had ≥ SFU grade 3 hydronephrosis, decreasing to 2% (p = 0.13). CIC and anticholinergic use increased from 61% and 37% to 87% and 86%, respectively (p = 0.001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). With follow-up, 55% had surgical intervention and 23% had an augmentation. Of children with a serum creatinine/cystatin-C at 8–11 years old, one had confirmed chronic kidney disease (stage 2). Conclusions Despite initial high incidence of hydronephrosis, this was low grade and resolved in the first decade of life. Additionally, the 8–11-year incidence of kidney disease and upper tract changes was low due to aggressive medical management

The role of mutation rate variation and genetic diversity in the architecture of human disease

Background We have investigated the role that the mutation rate and the structure of genetic variation at a locus play in determining whether a gene is involved in disease. We predict that the mutation rate and its genetic diversity should be higher in genes associated with disease, unless all genes that could cause disease have already been identified. Results Consistent with our predictions we find that genes associated with Mendelian and complex disease are substantially longer than non-disease genes. However, we find that both Mendelian and complex disease genes are found in regions of the genome with relatively low mutation rates, as inferred from intron divergence between humans and chimpanzees, and they are predicted to have similar rates of non-synonymous mutation as other genes. Finally, we find that disease genes are in regions of significantly elevated genetic diversity, even when variation in the rate of mutation is controlled for. The effect is small nevertheless. Conclusions Our results suggest that gene length contributes to whether a gene is associated with disease. However, the mutation rate and the genetic architecture of the locus appear to play only a minor role in determining whether a gene is associated with disease

Universal Constraints on Low-Energy Flavour Models

It is pointed out that in a general class of flavour models one can identify certain universally present FCNC operators, induced by the exchange of heavy flavour messengers. Their coefficients depend on the rotation angles that connect flavour and fermion mass basis. The lower bounds on the messenger scale are derived using updated experimental constraints on the FCNC operators. The obtained bounds are different for different operators and in addition they depend on the chosen set of rotations. Given the sensitivity expected in the forthcoming experiments, the present analysis suggests interesting room for discovering new physics. As the highlights emerge the leptonic processes, $\mu\rightarrow e\gamma$, $\mu\rightarrow eee$ and $\mu\rightarrow e$ conversion in nuclei.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures; v2 matches published versio